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Multimedia Artist

Author: Cory Castillon

I make art because it’s a form of language. Some ideas are better communicated through imagery. What's great about art is that it’s universal. We don’t have to know how to speak or read or write the same language to understand what a visual artist from another culture is saying or to be able to communicate with other cultures through our own creativity.
As an artist, I’m obsessed with abstraction because it gives my imagination free reign of this language and lets it run wild. Conclusions are subjective and everyone discovers something new about either the artist or themselves. I would describe my work as a Rorschach test in a downpour. My canvass is a reflecting pool.

Brand loyalty is important for companies to achieve not only because of revenue generated by repeat business but it creates highly effective free advertising through brand advocates or customers who have had a good experience with your brand and want to share that with their circles by recommending your brand or even writing an online review in favor of your brand. A company I’ve had a great experience with has been Blackberry. I’ve always enjoyed their products and their unique designs as well as security features. This has resulted in the company earning my respect and repeat business by going back for new products. I have confidence in the quality of their products, so I’ve recommended them to others. As the only smartphone company to feature consistently high levels of security and a hardware keyboard on their devices along with a hub that organizes content, this brand has had no problem standing the test of time while separating itself from its competitors.

At one point, the company almost shut down because they struggled to adapt. As a loyal customer to their brand, I was sad when I heard the news. Fortunately, in the last couple of years the company has restructured itself to become more current and competitive. One of the major ways they did this was by moving away from using its own operating system which did not have access to the apps on Google Play drastically reducing the availability of apps to users, to operating using the android platform. This was the best thing they could have done to improve. They’ve also continued to offer a keyboard for their original base while creating full touch screen models as well to appeal to new customers while competing with brands like Samsung, Apple and LG. Overall, I’ve been happy with their products from when I first started using them in the early 2000’s until now in 2018. That’s a long time to keep a customer so they’re doing something right.

When it comes to social media platforms, it’s important to have the right ones for the market you’re trying to target. As a fine artist, a photographer and a graphic artist there are many platforms I can choose from to reach the people I’m looking to interact with. It’s also important for me to maintain a presence on other platforms as well so that the content I produce will be easier for people to locate. For example, while Facebook and Twitter are not specifically created for artists to share their work, most internet users are on these platforms so by being there, my work can reach more people.

All the while, there are platforms created specifically for artists like myself to curate work for presentation to audiences specifically looking for art. Behance, DeviantArt, Pinterest and Instagram are great examples of platforms for artists because they’re primarily visual. Then there are blog sites like WordPress that make it easy to have one central location for artwork as well as information and distribute across multiple platforms with one click using features like IFTTT (If This Then That.) Another place that’s essential for connecting with professionals who are looking for talent of all sorts is LinkedIn because it is created primarily to display a resume for companies.

With that said, I intend on deploying a variety of these tools to engage with my audience, potential buyers and employers. As a painter, sculptor, photographer, mixed media and graphic artist, I’ll be sharing mostly images of my process and artwork however there are times when I need to communicate a message, so WordPress is going to be one of my main assets. I also maintain an official website through Bluehost at corycastillon.com where a more minimalist and polished version of my portfolio can be found. All the while, I’ll be on facebook/twitter to reach larger audiences and Behance/LinkedIn to market to employers while finding inspiration from other artists. And finally, my Instagram profile will be used more for sharing my photography and some behind the scenes images of my studio.

Digital Citizenship has many aspects which make it difficult to define as everyone views the seemingly abstract concept through a different personal perspective. From my perspective Digital Citizenship can be viewed through a positive and a negative light. The principals of Polarity and Correspondence both apply. Are you a “good” digital citizen or a “bad” digital citizen? What is a “good” digital citizen and what is a “bad” digital citizen? In layman’s terms, do you play by the rules or do you make your own?

There are many people and governments who wish to restrict free speech online while there are an increasingly greater number of people who feel compelled to behave naturally without constriction. Everyone has a different perspective and comes from a different background so creating a standard for online behavior is next to impossible unless you resort to persecuting people in the real world for their online behavior. This is acceptable in a lot of cases such as the persecution of the founder of The Silk Road, a venue for illegal behavior by individuals who attempt to remain anonymous. I completely agree with this sort of persecution as it cracks down on real world legitimate crimes such as drug and human trafficking.

However, there is a flip side to this coin which is persecuting people, anonymous or not, in the real world for their opinions. Public scrutiny is now being labeled in many cases as “bullying” and being prosecuted as actual criminal behavior. This is the sort of slippery slope that we tread when it comes to being digital citizens. We’re entering uncharted waters with technology and it’s getting to the point online where no one is anonymous, and we must all face the music when it comes to how we project ourselves via internet protocol.

“Pay it forward” as they say, refers to having empathy. We ALL have a piece of pain in our hearts and doing the right thing by being kind to others is what raises the bar. We also find value in the work of others so when we see value and share that value through our circles we pay it forward. When I make artwork, and share it with others, I am rewarded when they share it with their friends and their friends share it with theirs. We have tremendous power to share information in this age and the more light we bring to the table and share with others, the better off we all are. We rise or fall as one society in this modern interconnected age.